The Damaging Effects of Social Media 'Beauty' Filters
June 11, 2023 - Natalie Waters
“What’s reality? And how do women really look?” Artist, social media manager, and advocate for authenticity, Emilie Johal ponders.
Spreading awareness
We all have used, or seen, social media filters. But what effects do those filters have on us? Body and face dysmorphia, lower self-esteem, reduction in authenticity, and normalization of certain beauty standards are just touching on the negative effects these filters can have. The effects can be damaging both mentally and emotionally, and a lot of people don’t even realize what they are falling victim to.
Are they all bad?
Filters can be fun, and that’s how they mainly started out- like the age-old Snapchat “dog” filter. Recently, they are being used more often to alter how one’s face looks. We all use filters, but some of us use them a lot more than others. Specifically the younger generation, now kids and teens, have access to these facial altering capabilities at their fingertips.
Photo credit - quotecatalog.com
If you log on to a social media platform, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and briefly browse, you will come across someone who has altered their image with a beauty filter. They are everywhere, and have reached a point where people will not feel comfortable uploading an image of themself without first altering it somehow to look ‘better’.
Social media beauty filters are setting beauty standards that people, specifically women, feel they must adhere to in order to present themselves. These standards are being normalized, catering to a generic look that most filters have.
The effects in action
The ability to alter one’s appearance is not necessarily new technology; it has been available for quite some time through applications like Photoshop, or Facetune. Filters on social media have changed the game. Access to face altering technology is now at your fingertips, literally with the click of a button, or a swipe to the next filter. The ease of access in using beauty filters has increased the use of them, everywhere.
Pooja Shah, writer and attorney, states, “This ease of access has created almost a competition amongst content creators, bloggers and active participants on social media to post the most curated and ‘perfect’ photos of themselves. It's all part of trying to live up to an unachievable beauty standard.” The common use of social media filters has normalized an expectation to have to look a certain way online.
Photo credit - juneaye
It can be especially damaging to younger viewers, where the only content they see has been altered. Pooja Shah is concerned because “it gives them an unrealistic version of what reality is. Not everyone looks like those beauty filters and trying to portray that in real life can be unhealthy.” The altering of appearance online can lead to effects such as face and body dysmorphia, when looking in a mirror and not seeing the same version of yourself that you show online.
This false reality is falling towards visual ambiguity of both beauty standards and ethnicities, through beauty filters. These filters are “narrowing beauty standards at a stunningly rapid pace”, influencing a “recognized aesthetic template: ethnically ambiguous and featuring the flawless skin, big eye, full lips, small nose, and perfectly contoured curves made accessible in large part by filters” (Ryan-Mosley). Individuality is being minimalized by social media filters.
Pooja Shah does not believe beauty filters “based on race, heritage, nationality, ethnicity, etc are appropriate at all- it should never be trendy to try to appropriate, mock, replicate, or otherwise someone else’s background”. Individuals should be comfortable showing themselves, and not feel the need to morph their looks into someone else, or a generic-looking beauty standard created by a popular filter. Being able to be yourself, not who social media tells you to be, is an important factor to overcome nowadays.
Echo chambers of beauty standards
When speaking with Genesis Rivas, a writer and beauty editor with expertise in hair, makeup, skin, and nails, she talks about her own experience using filters, and how the extent of using filters so often “becomes sort of a safety crutch, and then before you know it you’re fully obsessed with these filters and this image of yourself that has been warped.” The commonality of adding filters all the time leads to feeling the need to always alter your appearance before posting anything. Again, this is shown to lead to giving people lower self esteem by constantly altering their appearance to look ‘acceptable’ in today’s beauty standards.
The value and authenticity of a photo can be influenced by its “perceived photo credibility and professional aesthetics” (Xie et al.). These widely used filters reduce the credibility of users, and at the same time promote damaging views on beauty and body standards. Studies on social media show that “selfie filtering apps articulate maladaptive internalization of unrealistic body images and unattainable appearance standards” (Rowland).
Another factor in the mass use of beauty filters and beauty standards is the algorithms of social media. “If all you do on Instagram is like a certain thing, they will feed you more of that.” Emilie Johal continues on to say how she has made an effort to change what her social media shows her. She emphasizes the importance of being aware of this and training your social media to feed you a variety of different content. When all you see is people who use and promote beauty filters and their standards, that is all you will know and all your feed will show you. Genesis Rivas describes social media as “all echo chambers”, or an environment that amplifies pre-existing beliefs. “If you are constantly interested in that type of thing, the algorithm is going to continue feeding those things.”
Is it a losing battle?
Social media is not all bad. It can be a great tool to make connections, build businesses, and interact with people. So how can we prevent these effects or stop them from spreading?
The key tool is awareness. “You build that awareness by limiting yourself on social media. And self-reflecting.” (Genesis Rivas) You can ask yourself, am I on social media to thoughtlessly scroll through what my algorithm is feeding me? Or am I mindfully wandering through posts, and using my time more productively? Being proactive and aware of what you are doing and seeing is the best way to not fall victim to the negative effects social media can have.
Photo credit - Surprising_Shots
Constant use of social media ‘beauty’ filters prevents you from being and embracing your authentic self, what Emilie Johal feels is one of the most important accomplishments in life. She is afraid that the constant use of beauty filters altering people's appearances will prevent them from reaching this goal. “That is my fear because I feel like when people live their genuine lives they become happier, and they don’t hurt as many people, and they move forward.” It is important to be true to yourself rather than trying to keep up with a standardized beauty expectation. Live your life in the best and most authentic way by showing only your authentic self both in person and online.
Sources
Rowland, Mary. "Online Visual Self-Presentation: Augmented Reality Face Filters, Selfie-Editing Behaviors, and Body Image Disorder." Journal of Research in Gender Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, July 2022, pp. 99+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A730763146/AONE?u=s8405248&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=7e13c8cd.
Ryan-Mosley, Tate. "The fight for 'Instagram face' Meta banned filters that 'encourage plastic surgery,' but a massive demand for beauty augmentation on social media is complicating matters." MIT Technology Review, vol. 125, no. 5, Sept.-Oct. 2022, pp. 74+. Gale OneFile: Business, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A717495806/ITBC?u=s8405248&sid=bookmark-ITBC&xid=27e9634d.
Xie, Chaowu, et al. “The “Magic of Filter” Effect: Examining Value Co-Destruction of Social Media Photos in Destination Marketing .” Tourism Management, 20 Mar. 2023, pp. 1–15. Article Galaxy, www.reprintsdesk.com/userv3/fulltextreader.aspx.